What has Cameron Diaz been up to? That is a question that many fans of the four-time Golden Globe-nominated actor have had on their minds for about a decade, since that was around the time we last saw her perform on screen.
However, it was announced in 2022 that Cameron Diaz is coming out of retirement to make a new movie for Netflix (one of the best streaming services to subscribe to today) called Back in Action. The wait for Diaz’s return to action is not much further away, so let’s celebrate by taking a look back at her career so far – starting with the days before she could call herself an actor.
Cameron Diaz's Modeling Career (Late 1980s-1994)
Like many female actors from her generation, Cameron Diaz initially got her start working as a model when she was a teenager. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the San Diego, California, native signed with Elite Model Management and began posing in advertisements for Levi’s and Calvin Klein, as well as once starred in a provocative Coca-Cola TV spot from that era. She even made it to the cover of the magazine Seventeen at the eponymous age, too.
However, at this time, there was also a moment when Diaz feared her looks were being used for a different purpose: drug trafficking. In 2020, on the podcast Second Life, she shared with host Hillary Kerr the following story from when she attempted to get work modeling in Paris, but instead became involved in some suspicious activity that got attention from airport officials:
I got one job. But, really, I think I was a mule carrying drugs to Morocco. I swear to God. It was before TSA or anything like that… They gave me a suitcase that was locked that had my ‘costumes’ in it… I’m this blonde, blue-eyed girl in Morocco. It’s the ‘90s. I’m wearing torn jeans and platform boots and my hair down. I’m like, ‘This is really unsafe.’ I was like, ‘I don’t know. It’s not mine. I don’t know whose it is.’ That was my only job I ever got in Paris.
Luckily, it was not much longer before Diaz would no longer have to worry about scrambling for modeling gigs or becoming an international criminal. Her big break was about to come.
Cameron Diaz's Acting Career (1994-2014)
By her modeling agent’s suggestion, a then-21-year-old Diaz auditioned for one of the best Jim Carrey movies, 1994’s The Mask, and made her debut as Stanley Ipkiss’ love interest, Tina Carlyle, after taking acting classes. She quickly blew up in Hollywood, landing leading roles in films like 1995’s The Last Supper, the 1997 romantic comedy movie favorite My Best Friend’s Wedding, and 1998’s There’s Something About Mary in the title role, for which she earned her first Golden Globe nomination.
Her second Globe nod was for an unexpected acting role that she crushed in Being John Malkovich from 1999 – the same year Oliver Stone cast her in Any Given Sunday, and one year before she began her friendship with Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu by co-starring in the first of two Charlie’s Angels movies. She gave her third Globe-nominated performance in 2001’s Vanilla Sky, the same year she began her stint voicing Princess Fiona in the Shrek movies with the Best Animated Feature Oscar-winning first installment. She followed that with her fourth Golden Globe-nominated role in the 2002 Martin Scorsese movie Gangs of New York.
After that came more rom-coms (such as 2006’s The Holiday), a reunion with Tom Cruise and return to spy movies with Knight & Day in 2010, which led to 2011’s Bad Teacher, and then getting a fake, terrifying back tattoo for The Counselor from Ridley Scott in 2013. Diaz had a busy year in 2014 with The Other Woman, Sex Tape and a remake of Annie – the last of which would be her most recent acting credit.
Cameron Diaz's Post-Acting Career (2014-2022)
After the world had not seen her act in years, Cameron Diaz confirmed her retirement in 2018 during an interview for Entertainment Weekly alongside her The Sweetest Thing co-stars Christina Applegate and Selma Blair. Years later, she explained to Rachael Ray that she wanted to focus on raising a family with Good Charlotte guitarist Benji Madden, whom she married in 2015.
However, Diaz did not completely walk away from the spotlight. A year before retiring, she published the best-selling wellness book The Body Book: Feed, Move, Understand and Love Your Amazing Body, which she co-wrote with Sandra Bark. Diaz would collaborate with her again for 2016’s The Longevity Book: The Science of Aging, the Biology of Strength, and the Privilege of Time.
Her interest in health would expand to investments in biotch startup companies, such as Seed Health, which is also backed by celebrities like Jessica Biel, as The Standard reports. In 2020, Rolling Stone ran an article detailing how Diaz started her own brand of organic wine called Avaline that year.
Cameron Diaz's Return To Acting (2022-Present)
In 2022, following her appearance as a guest judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 7, Cameron Diaz’s un-retirement was officially announced. The news came in the form of an audio clip from a call between her and her Annie co-star Jamie Foxx, which the Oscar winner posted on Instagram. This also served as an announcement for their upcoming Netflix movie Back in Action, which is due for a January release on the upcoming 2025 movie schedule, and stars her and Foxx as retired secret agents forced back into the field after their identities are suddenly compromised.
There is already more of Diaz to look forward to, such as a reunion with Keanu Reeves, her Feeling Minnesota co-star, in Apple TV+’s dark comedy, Outcome, which also stars Jonah Hill. An even more exciting upcoming Diaz projet is Shrek 5, which is due in July 2026 and will see her return to voice Fiona alongside Mike Myers as the titular ogre and Eddie Murphy as Donkey.
Also in 2022, rumors of a sequel to The Holiday began swirling nearly two decades after the rom-com was released before writer and director Nancy Meyers debunked the news. However, Diaz’s onscreen love interest, Jude Law, told E! News that he would be interested in coming back for a follow-up, so never say never.
Hopefully this is only the beginning of Cameron Diaz’s return as an actor. I think I speak for many audiences who, after more than a decade since we last saw her, have missed the actor and are extremely excited to see Back in Action especially for her.
